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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Turing Machine program

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William Leue
Guru

Joined: 03/07/2020
Location: United States
Posts: 405
Posted: 08:13pm 05 Jan 2021
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Attached is my Turing Machine program.

The Turing Machine is a highly abstract and theoretical model of computation that was invented by Alan Mathison Turing in 1936. Using this model, Turing was able to show that even this very simple model could perform any computation that any computer, no matter how powerful, could perform.

What's more, Turing also showed that there are calculations that no computer can do, typically because the numbers involved grow too fast. Examples are numbers like Ackerman's function. And famously, Turing also defined and proved the so-called "Halting Problem".

All of this work of Turing's was done a few years before he threw himself into breaking the Enigma code to help England survive WWII.

The program lets you run and examine Turing Machine programs in both tabular and graphical (state machine) form, create and edit Turing programs. Several sample Turing programs are included, along with an extensive Help facility.

Enjoy!
-Bill


Turing.zip
 
Fabian
Newbie

Joined: 19/12/2020
Location: Germany
Posts: 9
Posted: 07:01am 06 Jan 2021
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  William Leue said  
What's more, Turing also showed that there are calculations that no computer can do, typically because the numbers involved grow too fast. Examples are numbers like Ackerman's function.


Hi!

Nice that you wrote such a program. I love turing machines. But I need to correct you. The Ackerman's function is computable. The problem is, that it would just take way to long. But Problems that are not computable would (in general) never be solved by a machine, even if you have all the time in the world.
 
William Leue
Guru

Joined: 03/07/2020
Location: United States
Posts: 405
Posted: 04:13pm 06 Jan 2021
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Oh, thanks for the correction! Now that I think back, I believe I knew that at one time.  
-Bill
 
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